


Livre

by Iantheforlornwriter



Category: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Beauty and the Beast - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Beauty and the Beast, Alternate Universe - Library, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Beauty and the Beast, F/M, Falling In Love, Friendship/Love, Interspecies Romance, Love Triangles, Love/Hate, Modern Retelling, Romance, Self-Acceptance, Self-Discovery, True Love, sewer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-14 08:22:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3403640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iantheforlornwriter/pseuds/Iantheforlornwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beast has lived his whole life in the sewers, avoiding humans who see him as nothing else. A monster. </p>
<p>Belle owns and works at a large library, and there always seems to be a book missing. </p>
<p>One fateful encounter, has them meet. One fateful encounter, makes them fall in love. </p>
<p>Beauty and the Beast modern retelling, alternating viewpoints between Beast and Belle. Co-authored.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Livre

I lived my whole life in the sewers, and I don't intend to change it. The smell of sludge and flushed feces were bothering, there was no doubt about that. But I'd like to think, after thirty years living down here, I would have gotten used to it. If only that was true. 

Mostly I have, however there were certain days where my nose would pick up a horrible stench and it would stay, lingering around for a while before it disappeared again. I'm not human. I don't think I ever was. 

My body is covered with fur, brown in colour like the rats that scattered over my feet. At least, if you could call them feet. They were like paws, padded at the bottom with sharp class for toe nails and my hands weren't any different. Talons for finger nails. I swept it away with my feet as I entered the sludge. It was the only way to get to the library. 

My tail dragged behind me as I waded through the thick viscous liquid, a hand on the book I stole the last time. I tried to return the book I take after I finish them, but I have to be cautious. It's quite obvious that I don't look like a man, a human. I'm a beast. No one likes a beast.

Crossing an intersection of tunnels and taking the left, I climbed up the ladder which I have perfected doing over the years. My talons used to scratch the steps and I'd fall, but now I was quite good at it. The torn pants I was wearing was now drenched with the murky, greenish-brown water. A strikingly black coloured hoodie covered my head and face from view. It was better if no one saw me, they'd run away at the sight of my protruding fangs. 

The ladder led up to the manhole in the alley right next to the library. The moon that hung above, radiated its beauty to the dark streets below. The night was radiant and lucent, unlike me. I was dark, vicious looking. i was a monster, and nothin would change that.

I would normally sit somewhere quiet and secluded. I’d enjoy the cool air. Somewhere I wouldn't be noticed. I would've done that on nights like these, but I needed a book. I also needed to return one.

Climbing up the fire escape, I pried open the glassed window with my talon and crept inside. Walking straight to the fiction section, as I have memorized the interior of the library by heart, I placed back the book I took and grabbed another one. 

At the counter, I wrote down a fake name. A monicker. I didn't actually have a name, I wasn't given one. I called myself Beast, like everyone else who saw me would. I thought it would hurt less if I named myself that, then when they'd hurl insults at me, they'd just be calling me by my name. To be honest, these might be the only friends I'll ever have. 

As I finished writing down the fake name and started walking back to the top floor, I bumped right into her. She was the librarian here, and the only one I saw working here. I assumed she owned the place and if she did, she had an intruder, a thief walking around stealing books in her library. It was me.

"Unfh," She groaned as I bumped into her. "Sorry." She apologized not looking up, as she started to pick up the books she dropped from the ground. "The library's closed by the way." She informed me. 

I would've run. I would've disappeared, ran right pass her and straight to the fire escape and back to the sewers where I lived. For some reason, I didn't this time. I stopped. Watched her for a second, and then I crouched down and started to help her.

"I was returning a book." I told her as I grabbed an encyclopedia that had slid to the side after we bumped into each other. It was an in depth explanation of the Earth and other planets. I took this once. 

"Thanks, some people just take them and never return them. I spent years collecting these books. "So," She started to say. "What book were you-" She stopped as she touched my clawed hand by accident and snatched it away immediately in the most violent recoil I'll ever see.

A look of horror was plastered on her face. I was expecting this. I should've expected this. She scurried, hands moving vigorously trying to fish something out from her bag. She produced a cylindrical object which I realized what it was. It was pepper spray.

"Stay away from me!" She yelled as she clumsily popped open the cap. "I'll use this, I swear." 

"I don't think that would really hurt me." I said, my hands raised up above my head. "Look, all I did was return a book." 

"You read books?" She asked shocked. 

"I'm Beast." I told her my name.

"I can see that!" She yelled again, her hand was shaking.

"No my **name** is Beast." I corrected her.

"Your name is **Beast**?" She asked surprised. "Not like, Vincent or something?" 

"No, I never had one." 

Her eyes darted to the book in my hand. I sighed and placed it on the floor. "I also took another one." I said continuing our earlier conversation. 

"You're the person who keeps on borrowing books late at night and returning it a week later." She recalled. "Graham Gold?" She asked.

"I liked the name. I still don't have one." 

"You're dressed up like a homeless man." She acknowledged. 

"I know, it hides my face." I circled a talon over my furry face. "So..." I started to drawl. "Can we talk? And can I not get assaulted?" I asked. A little more desperate than I wanted to be.

"What’s your name?" I asked.

She took a moment to reply. "Belle. My name is Belle."

She was hesitant, looking at the pepper spray in her hand, then at the book on the ground. Her eyes then darted to the door. She sighed and placed her pepper spray down on the ground. I lowered my hands. 

"Fine. Let's talk." She said.


End file.
